Lechmere, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board (502 U.S. 527)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided January 27, 1992 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 502 U.S. 527 · 112 S. Ct. 841
- Decided
- January 27, 1992
- Term
- October Term 1991
- Vote
- 6–3
- Majority author
- Justice Thomas
- Issue area
- Unions
- Disposition
- Reversed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
JUSTICE THOMAS delivered the opinion of the Court. This case requires us to clarify the relationship between the rights of employees under § 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA or Act), 49 Stat. 452, as amended, 29 U. S. C. § 157, and the property rights of their employers. I This case stems from the efforts of Local 919 of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, AFL-CIO, to organize employees at a retail store in Newington, Connecticut, owned and operated by petitioner Lechmere, Inc. The store is located in the Lechmere Shopping Plaza, which occupies a roughly rectangular tract measuring approximately 880 feet from north to south and 740 feet from east to west. Lech-mere's store is situated at the Plaza's south end, with the main parking lot to its north. A strip of 13 smaller "satellite stores" not owned by Lechmere runs along the west side of the Plaza, facing the parking lot. To the Plaza's east (where the main entrance is located) runs the Berlin Turnpike, a four-lane divided highway. The parking 1st, however, does not abut the Turnpike; they are separated by a 46-foot-wide grassy strip, broken only by the Plaza's entrance. The parking lot is owned jointly by Lechmere ~nd the developer of the satellite stores. The grassy strip is public property (except for a 4-foot-wide band adjoining the parking lot, which belongs to Lechmere). The union began its…
Excerpt of a 24,454-character opinion. The full text and citation network load in the interactive viewer above.